# Imagining Design Workflows in Agentic AI Futures

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.20731 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.20731/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Placed in General LLM agent frameworks and benchmarks, one of 16 directions in LLM agents and tool use.
- Builds on 12 of its 89 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 25 Sep 2025.

## Placed in

- LLM agents and tool use / [General LLM agent frameworks and benchmarks](https://mlsanity.com/agents/general-llm-agent-frameworks-and-benchmarks/)

## Builds on (most cited first, 12 of 12)

- [Concept Decomposition for Visual Exploration and Inspiration](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.18203/) (2023)
- [AI Suggestions Homogenize Writing Toward Western Styles and Diminish Cultural Nuances](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.11360/) (2024)
- [Designing Creative AI Partners with COFI: A Framework for Modeling Interaction in Human-AI Co-Creative Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.07666/) (2022)
- [The Effects of Generative AI on Design Fixation and Divergent Thinking](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.11164/) (2024)
- [CreativeConnect: Supporting Reference Recombination for Graphic Design Ideation with Generative AI](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.11949/) (2023)
- [User Experience Design Professionals' Perceptions of Generative Artificial Intelligence](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.15237/) (2023)
- [Evaluating Creativity in Computational Co-Creative Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1807.09886/) (2018)
- [PromptInfuser: How Tightly Coupling AI and UI Design Impacts Designers' Workflows](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.15435/) (2023)
- [Code Shaping: Iterative Code Editing with Free-form AI-Interpreted Sketching](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.03719/) (2025)
- [Beyond Automation: How UI/UX Designers Perceive AI as a Creative Partner in the Divergent Thinking Stages](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.18778/) (2025)
- [Expandora: Broadening Design Exploration with Text-to-Image Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.00791/) (2025)
- [How Visualization Designers Perceive and Use Inspiration](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.15205/) (2025)

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [Can Open-Source LLM Agents Replace Static Application Security Testing Tools? An Empirical Assessment](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.11672/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

As designers become familiar with Generative AI, a new concept is emerging: Agentic AI. While generative AI produces output in response to prompts, agentic AI systems promise to perform mundane tasks autonomously, potentially freeing designers to focus on what they love: being creative. But how do designers feel about integrating agentic AI systems into their workflows? Through design fiction, we investigated how designers want to interact with a collaborative agentic AI platform. Ten professional designers imagined and discussed collaborating with an AI agent to organise inspiration sources and ideate. Our findings highlight the roles AI agents can play in supporting designers, the division of authority between humans and AI, and how designers' intent can be explained to AI agents beyond prompts. We synthesise our findings into a conceptual framework that identifies authority distribution among humans and AI agents and discuss directions for utilising AI agents in future design workflows.